Italian Riviera Continued

25 June 2007
Day At Sea. This is a good day for the guests, they just get
to relax on-board. For us it's an all day work day. Plus there
was a "crew sale" from 9:30p - 11:30p that night. It's held for
crew only in the crew quarters. Some of the products that
don't sell well to the Crystal guests are very popular with the
crew - Fossil/DKNY watches, Guess bags, that sort of thing.
Then we had to pack everything up. It was a long day!
9am - 9pm plus 9:30p - 11:30p

26 June 2007
Taormina (Sicily), Italy
The Serenity was anchored outside the port of Nexos. After
tendering into the port we both escorted tours - "Scenic
Taormina". While Taormina is very scenic this was not our
best escorting experience. It was 45 celcius (113 fahrenheit)
which makes for grumpy guests. In addition, there were
forest fires in the area so the air was smokey and very hazy.
Also, the Sicilian guides were not very enthusiastic. Maybe
the heat and haze got to them too. We are looking forward to
going back and touring independently. We also need to do
a tour of Mt. Etna - a nearby active volcano. We return 4 more
times this summer so will do more then. Shops open from
5P - 11P but we had to go in at 4p to re-stock after the crew
sale. These last couple of days have actually seemed like work.

27 June 2007
Another Day At Sea
Shops open 9am - 9pm
After work, it was still light out. The ship was hardly moving.
It was so peaceful. Very nice way to relax after a long day.

28 June 2007
Corfu, Greece
Docked in Corfu. Today escorted a scenic tour. It was a
great relaxing day. The tour was a 3 hour bus ride around
the island. The streets are so narrow there is no more than a
few inches on either side of the bus. There are stop lights it
seems in the middle of nowhere, but they control the traffic
because it's just 1 lane going through each village. Most of the
island is comprised of little villages that face the interior of the
island because it protected them from pirates.
The colors of the water are literally turquoise. Stopped
at the Golden Fox for a traditional Greek snack and a folkloric
show. Shops open again at 5p - 11p. After work the
phototographers (photogs) sponsored a "Black and White" party.
Everyone dressed in black and white and they took black and white
pictures. We didn't pose for a personal one but we took one
of all the shoppies. It will be nice to look back at someday.

29 June 2007
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Anchored off the "Walled City of Dubrovnik". This is a perfect
intact medieval town on the Adriatic coast. Luckily the town was
not destroyed during the homeland wars in the early '90s. There
is evidence of holes from shellings and bullets but most of
the structures were basically unharmed. Several of the red
roofs have been replaced but the damage was minimal
compared to what it might have been. The conflict gave
Croatia independence from what was then Yugoslavia and
freeing them from communism. There are many beautiful
monasteries , we visited the Franciscan and the Dominican.
We escorted tours again - the histroy is amazing. We also took
a bus ride outside of town to be able to look back at the city as
a whole. One of the highlights was a performance by Lindjo.
Their traditional program included costumes, songs and
dances from various Croation provinces.
Then back to work 5P - 11P

30 June 2007
Day At Sea
Shops open 9am - 9pm
As a part of crew activities, we had Saturday brunch today.
The food was "better" than the normal crew mess. We
enjoyed waffles with ice cream, and eggs benedict of sorts.
Normally our choices are limited to starch served with grease,
or grease served with starch. The healthy options are very
limited. Sometimes we get leftovers from the guest buffet
but timing is everything and the food gets picked over
pretty quickly.

Til' next time.......